Early One Morning
by Engrish Spy
Summary: Set against the backdrop of the Elizabethian Era, Relena, the queen's cousin is asked to court but do the men of court have other plans for this young lady destined to become a queen in her own right?
1. Early One Morning

Early One Morning

By: the Engrish Spy

Rating: (Undecided)

Authors Notes: Ok so I took some poetic license and I would like to say that there really only a couple periods in history that I love and Elizabethan is one of them. My other favorites are Russia before the Bolshevik revolt and Asian History period. So I thought why not right a Gundam Wing Fan Fiction set in the early days of the Elizabethan era. 

Just to give you a brief run down of what I need help with is this: I do not know if there was a Duke of York in the late 1500's.

If there are any other inconstancies then let me know. I will try and fix them to the best of my ability.

Toddles

~The Engrish Spy~

Relena sighed and held on to the book as she began to twist in her position in the very uncomfortable leather chair in the office of the Lord of the Manor. Around her, the normally peaceful and tranquil Peacecraft manor, on the coast of Northwest England, was thrown to the wind with the arrival of the newly crowned queen and her entourage for what Relena had gathered as much from her mother was to last until the large party was to head somewhere else, most likely to the south as it was warmer then during the winter. Scarborough was a cold town when the winter winds whipped in from the north and across the North Sea.

            "My Lady," a breathless voice rasped from the door.

            Relena did not lift her eyes from the book that she held close in her hands. She knew the raspy voice belonged to her long time caretaker and as she aged her own maid, Margaret Pagan. 

            "Yes, Margaret?" Relena replied.

            "You mother, she calls for you," the woman said as she swept back some of the hair that had come lose from her caul.

            Relena tired to ignore the fact that Margaret had asked her to abandon her reading to take up more gossip with a woman who in fact, was just a pretence of a mother and cared more about jewels and feasting then she did her husbands own children. Margaret coughed again as if to woo Relena away from the book she had been reading.  

Relena sighed and then closed the book. She swung her legs from their un-lady like position over the arm of the high winged chair. If her step-mother or her father had seen this she would have had the switching of a lifetime. Luckily Margaret never told them of their daughters misbehaving. 

Standing up Relena proceed to brush the wrinkles from her modest Vientiane style dress in a burgundy and rose pink with pearls embroidered to the bodice in a crisscross pattern. She then crossed her hands in front of her and made her way out of the study. Margaret followed after her as Relena made for the room that she new that her step mother occupied on the second floor of the normally quiet manor.

She reached the mahogany door and knocked slowly. There was a muffled come in from the other side. Relena sighed and pushed on the heavy door to open what she once knew as her mother's room. 

The room was nothing like it used to be. All the tapestries her mother had brought from the French court were all gone and replaced with the ugly Spanish paintings. The lovely soft and un-carved cheery wood furniture had been replaced with the huge and bulky Tudor style furniture that the Lady Noventa preferred. Relena stepped in and shut the door closed. 

"You called my lady mother," Relena said in a calm and quiet voice that she used when around people and curtsied to the back of a very large looking woman dressed in gold and black velvet.

"Yes," The Lady Noventa said with a wave of her hand and continued to weave at the loom she had set up in the room.

"The Queen will be here on her tour of the country and holdings. There are a great many things that will be expected of you as she is in attendance at the manor," the Lady continued in her shrill yet muddled English accent.

"Yes my lady mother," Relena replied.

"The Queen has also asked for you to join her at court as one of her ladies in waiting seeing as some of them have already been married off, to gentlemen of the court. Her Royal Highness could find you a suitable match while you are there, and as the Daughter of the Duke of York it is only right that you serve your queen," she continued ignoring Relena's reply.

"Is that all my lady mother?" Relena asked trying to stare out the window to the left of her onto the huge estates.

            Lady Noventa turned to face her step-daughter; her face was contorted in a look of utter disgust and horror at Relena.

            "Is that all you can say you insolent child?" her shrill voice resonating off the dark wood walls of the Lady's chambers.

            Relena did not flinch as her step-mother continued to stare at her in disgust, "You should watch your tong and remember not to act this disrespectful when the Queen is here or you might come under the axe like many who disobey the queen."

            "Yes lady mother," Relena replied but continued to stare off into the distance.

            "You may go now," Lady Noventa said with a casual wave of her hand. 

            Relena sighed and then curtsied and then left the same way she had entered. Sighing to herself she slowly made her way back to the study to retrieve the book she had left on the large rough wood desk. Along the way she began to think back to what her mother had just told her.

            She had heard of the court intrigues from her father and brother on a monthly basis in the letters they sent her about court life. An unnamed lady in waiting had died in an attempt on the Queen herself. She had donned a white dress that had been sent to the Queen from the French and of course the dress was intentionally poisoned for Her Royal Majesty. Relena remember tuting when she had read the gossip her father had sent her. Her stepmother as illiterate as many half-Spaniards were (her stepmother not caring for an education much like the one Relena had received.) had sputtered out a few derogatory phrases about the girl and then began to gossip about court and court intrigues with her waiting ladies. To this Relena had taken the letter and moved to the shared room with her half-sister and read it to her.

            "What is bothering you sister?" a small voice called out to her from a door way.

            Relena turned her head to see her half-sister, Mariemaia, standing in the door way. It was apparent that she had just come from her music lessons with Master William Huge for her face appeared blotchy and red. Her nanny Amelia followed her close behind with a pitting look on her face for the youngest Peacecraft. Relena slowly made her way to her youngest sibling.

            "Nothing my dear little sister," she replied and then stopped in front of her.

            "Was Master Huge that much of a monster?" Relena asked the red headed girl.

            The little girl nodded her head, her caul bouncing, almost from her head. She then closed her eyes against the onslaught of more tears.

            "He is rough when you are not correct in your measurements. My only hindrance is I did not inherit the long skilled hands of the English Peacecraft, but the stubby hands of the Spanish Noventa," Mariemaia said with a soft sigh.

            Relena took her sisters hands in hers and looked into the girls light blue eyes, "I was not all that good in the lute when I was your age dear little sister."

            Mariemaia hung her head and then muttered and I know and then looked up into her sisters eyes again.

            "Well be happy you got something from Father, the Tudor Red Hair and not your mother's coarse Spanish black," Relena said with a small smile.

            Mariemaia smiled and then turned to look at a portrait of their father which hung in the dark paneled gallery.

            "I hear that our Cousin Elizabeth will be making a visit to the manor?" Mariemaia replied with wide eyed wonder changing the subject.

            Relena let go of her half-sisters hands and then began to walk towards the study. Mariemaia and her nurse followed behind.

            "Yes it is true, dear little sister. Her royal highness will be making a stop at the manor for a short stay," Relena said with a sigh.

Mariemaia detected the sadness in her voice and then caught up to Relena, "What is the matter?"

            "I will be leaving when the Queen leaves the manor. I am to go to court and serve as a maid of honor for the Queen," Relena said forlornly to her small sister.

            "You cannot go, I will be the only one left in this house with that woman we call a mother," at this mention of the hatred of her mother, Mariemaia felt a sharp tug at her ear and her caul fell to the ground. Amelia had taken the liberty of reprimanding her and her disrespect of her mother.

            Tears began in her eyes again, but the small smile that Relena gave her stopped the tears from coming out. She then picked her white and black caul from the floor and then did her best to secure it to her head again. Relena adjusted the caul and hair net on her head and then headed to the study.

            "Do not worry little sister, your time will come when you will leave this house and the arms of your mother," She said over her shoulder and then disappeared into the study again.

~*~ 

            "I hear that the relations with the French have taken a turn for the worst," A pale blond haired youth, dressed in a black and white doublet and black hose commented to an older man with graying yet still shockingly red hair that peeked out from the black velvet flat cap he wore.

            The older man nodded, "Yes after Her Majesty found their Duc frolicking around in a dress, she was more then pleased to send them on their way. Lord Burghly told me yesterday at the council"

            The younger man just shook his head and held back a laugh of merriment from his lips. They never noticed the arrival of the Queen and her ladies.

            "Good morrow Beloved Uncle and cousin Milliardo," the queen said with a curtsy to the two men. Her maids followed suit.

            "Your Highness," both replied performing the customary bow that befitted a man of their ranks.

            "It is rather funny that the French Duke had to take off as fast as he did," Elizabeth said coyly and then turned and gestured to her one of her ladies to step forward. Dressed in a brown bodice and a blue skirt and sleeves was a woman with the darkest hair and bluest eyes stepped forward. Elizabeth smiled and then turned towards the younger Peacecraft.

            "Cousin I would like you to meet, the Lady Lucrezia the daughter of the Earl of Pembroke," Elizabeth said with a sly smile.

            "It is an honor to meet you Lady Lucrezia," Milliardo said with a bow.

            "The pleasure is mine, Lord Peacecraft," Lucrezia said with a curtsy and the other ladies around then began to giggle and blush as the two exchanged pleasantries.

            "Your highness you must not push your maids into marriage so fast," The elder Peacecraft murmured to the Queen.

            "Hush Uncle, I do this for their own good. You do not want your own daughters to end up spinsters would you know," Elizabeth replied with a happy sigh as she continued to watch the budding exchange between her cousin and her lady.

            "Before you know it you will have all the ladies at court married and will not have anybody to serve you and you will have to do everything yourself," the elder Peacecraft said with a hearty chuckle.

            Elizabeth hit him with her gilded fan and joined him as they continued to watch the budding romance.

            The Elder Peacecraft and Elizabeth moved away from the group but not far away that the ladies and Milliardo would be considered indecent. 

            "I cannot wait to see the Peacecraft estate. It has been long while since I visited the estates. I think I was Relena's age when I visited last," the Queen said with a soft laugh.

            "I know she will be anxious to see you to Your Highness," The Duke of York replied.

            "I know for I am anxious to see her as well," the Queen said and then returned to the crowd.

~*~

            "So how fares our elder sister?" Mariemaia asked Relena as they strolled in the gardens off the house the next day.

            Relena was reading a letter as they walked in the morning sunlight of the warm August day.

            "She is expecting her child any day, now," Relena replied as she continued to examine the contents of the letter.

            "Oh I wish Anne could be here with us to see your cousin in the house again. Do you remember when she would visit before Mary imprisoned her?" Mariemaia said looking off to the great moor to the right of them.

            "Anne says that Gemmanies are cold for this time of year," Relena said almost ignoring her younger sister.

           "Fie me and I thought Scarborough was cold," Mariemaia said not really caring that her sister was not listening to her.

            "She also says that her husband is to inherit the title Margrave of Krushenda as his father has died," she said solemnly.

            "We must send our respects and wish the two well wishes into their new status," Mariemaia said looking up into the sky.

            "That we shall," Relena replied with a smile.

            "Did father send you his weekly letter?" Mariemaia questioned her sister.

            Relena shook her head and then turned to look behind here to make sure that Amelia and Margaret were keeping up with the younger Peacecrafts.

            "Are you afraid of going to court?" Mariemaia asked her sister.

            Relena turned to face her sister and then shook her head, "No, I do not like the idea of going there but I am never afraid. Would you be afraid?"

            Mariemaia shook her head and then looked towards the manor, "I would never be afraid, for I would have God and the lord Jesus on my side."

            Relena smiled and then took a little leather bound book from the chain it hung from on her dress and then placed it into Mariemaia's hand.

            "I want you to have this before I leave," Relena whispered with love and then kissed the top of Mariemaia's forehead.

                Mariemaia examined the book and then opened it up to reveal it was the bible that Relena's mother had given to Relena's father for her when she reached the age of thirteen.

            "I cannot take this gift sister…"

            "Shhh, you deserve this gift, and every time you read and study from this, it will remind you of me," she interrupted her sister.

            Mariemaia nodded and then placed the bible on the little green bag that hung at her side and matched the plain green Venetian dress she wore. She gave her sister a little hug and the two continued their walk in the gardens.

TBC…


	2. Just as the Sun Was Rising

Early One Morning

Chapter 2: Just as the Sun was Rising

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.

Lord Heero Yuy steeped from the carriage as it slowed to a halt in front of Whitehall; one of the Queen's official residences and where she kept her court some of the times. Snorting he followed one of the servants who was in the court yard awaiting his arrival. As he stalked his way to the rooms he called home at Whitehall, maids and men all bowed to him and then quickly scurried away as he continued his journey.  He was almost to his chambers when the voice of his trusty friend David Maxwell or "Duo" interrupted his hasty escape.

            "My Lord, wait up," he cried and then ran to catch up.

            Heero sighed and then turned to watch as his friend finally caught up with him. He looked at the man with pity as he bent over to catch his breath.

            "How do you get past the guards?" Heero asked questioning his friend with annoyance.

            The man gave the brown haired man a huge smile and then scratched the back of his neck.

            "You told them to let me pass whenever I came by," he said with a smile.

            Heero shook his head and then continued into his suite of rooms in Whitehall. Duo followed into the rooms. Heero grunted again but ignored the actor and began to pull off the cloak that he wore over his doublet and then the flat cap on his head. He then moved to a desk near the fire place and sat down surviving the work that had accumulated during his travels.

            "So how were you travels milord?" Duo asked in his cocky way as he took a seat in front of the desk.

            "They were fine," Heero grunted out and then continued to look over his documents.

            "Did you finally let a woman get into thy hose," Duo said with a waggle of his eyebrows.

            Heero looked up at his friend and then gave him a death glare that sent the actor shrinking in the leather chair in front of the desk. A man then came in baring a tray of manchet and a decanter of red wine. Duo smacked his lips as the tray was sat down in front of him. Rubbing his hands together he looked towards his friend awaiting some silent permission. All he earned was a disconnected grunt from the Lord and then dug into the food in front of him.

            "Your Travels, they were agreeable?" Duo asked with a mouth full of bread.

            Heero only grunted and then moved onto another pile of documents. Duo shook his head and then drank the spice laden wine with gusto. There was a knock on the heavy wooden door. Duo looked to his friend but noticed he was not going to answer it.

            "Come in," Duo said with a sigh and settled back into his chair.

            A man dressed in the livery of the household walked in, bowed and then placed a piece of paper parchment with the queen's seal on it. Heero looked at it and then the dull expressionless face lit up with the cock sure grin that Duo was used to seeing when the Queen paid attention to Heero and his investments. He quickly dropped the quill and then opened the letter with care. Duo watched as his friends scanned the letter and then scowled with the air that Duo knew only he could bring about. Duo lightly chuckled to himself and then tore another piece of bread off the loaf and put it in his mouth.

            "Peter, send word to my lord father the Duke I will not be able to join him in Wales for the fall hunt as planed," Heero said as he stood up from the desk and then headed back into his bed chambers.

            Duo stood up and followed him.

            "Where are you being sent this time, Lord Yuy?" Duo asked as he began to pet the ridiculously long braid he kept while the style was shorter hair for young men.

            "To the Yorkshire County to join the Queen and her party there for some hunting and feasting," He said hurriedly as he ripped off his Indigo and brown traveling doublet and motioned for her chamber man to come and adorn him with another clean one.

            "Well you are going to miss us again then Lord Yuy, as we performing one of Lord Shakespeare's great works this evening," Duo said with a proud air about him.

            "What is it this time, a no nonsense Greek comedy that put the people to sleep," Heero retorted in a mocking tone.

            "None of those comedies, they seem to make the people sleep. Hell I even fall asleep during practices" Duo said in his improper English and then quickly hid behind the post of the bed.

            "Do you not happen to fall asleep all the time," Heero said giving his friend a patented smirk.

"In fact it has nothing to do with love this time," Duo said from his hiding place, ignoring his friends comment

            "Duo I do not care for the theater as much as you think I do. I only invest in The Admirals Men for the sake that you do not end up on the streets like many of our boyhood friends," Heero said as he placed the black velvet flat cap atop his head of unruly brown hair and then straightened out his red and black riding doublet.  

            Duo popped out from behind the bed post and looked at his troubled friend. Heero just scowled and then left the room only to pick up the black cape that he had left on one of the chairs in his study.

            "I am to play tonight in Gascoigne's Jocasta" Duo said with his best evil face.

            It only earns a laugh from Heero. Duo scowled at his friend and then sat down on the edge of the bed.

            "Well it's much better then going to a silly hunting party and trying to impresse Her Majesty the Queen," Duo said with a sigh and then stood up and shrugged his shoulders.

            "Who are you playing tonight Duo?" Heero's quite voice broke the sad tension in his bed chambers.

            Duo's head perked up as he was given a chance to talk to his friend all about the role of one of the Italian's greatest heros.

~*~

            "Your Majesty," Relena said with a polite curtsy and kneeling as was recommended of her station as a duke's daughter.

            "Cousin, it is so good to see you," Elizabeth said with a smile and then held out her arms to hug her kin.

            "I express the same sentiments your Majesty," she said politely as she hugged the older woman back.

            "My you have grown my dear Lady Relena," Elizabeth commented as she motioned for her cousin to twirl for her. 

            Relena complied and then kneeled again for the queen. 

            "My goodness Cousin Relena, you are in the company of my woman and I. You do not have to be so polite," Elizabeth said with a sigh and then returned to the desk of the office.

            She sat down in the chair with grace and then picked up the paper she seemed to be writing before Relena had entered the study.

            "I trust your accommodations here at the Peacecraft manor are suitable," Relena said taking on of the chair close to her cousin the queen.

            "Well they are a suitable as that retched Lady Noventa has made them for the visit. I do miss the French furniture that your mother used to place in her rooms and the guest rooms. It was a refreshing change from the bulky Tudor furniture that I was so used to," Elizabeth said and then thrust the paper into Relena's unoccupied hands.

            There was a twitter of laughter that came from under the large light into which the afternoon sun streamed into the room. Relena finally noticed the groups of girls that she only could say that would be her friends, family and confidants for the next few years. A few she recognized. There was Lady Dorothy Catalonia, A name that had Catholic written all over it yet the Lady Dorothy could care less for the religion of her ancestors. In fact her father was the Queen's chaplain while she was sequestered away by Mary. It was dangerous at the time but she rewarded him greatly when she was crowned. Her father was now a member of the Privy Council and was rewarded lands in the Nottingham area. 

There was also the Lady Hilde Sheikbrecker. The black haired, blue eyed girl, though plan and simple compared to many a court, was actually from the royal family in the Gemmanies, and in fact she was a Princess in her lands. Relena remembered meeting the girl at her sisters wedding to Hilde's own cousin Treize. She had made a short friendship with Relena in the time that she was on the continent and she looked forward to seeing her in London. Court rumors had it the reason she was sent to England and to Elizabeth's court was do to discrepancies in her home country. 

Then there was the red haired Lady Cathrine Bloom. A red haired beauty who's ancestor were said to be that of the Irish royalty. Her father was the ambassador from Ireland and if it was true what they say the family was more Irish then British the Bloom's patriarch claimed them not to be. Her brother, Trowa had left for Venice to study under some of the best teachers there. Relena remembered very little about the girl and her brother but she knew they were very kind and generous people.

The others Relena had not made their introduction yet. She figured many of them were daughters of the peerage that lived in remote communities or were only just now returning from France and the Gemmanies. Relena turned back to the Queen and then stared down at the note in her hands  

            "What is it, Cousin?" Relena said with a question, looking at the paper in her hands again.

            "This is a letter," Elizabeth said with a gleam in her eyes.

            "For what, I pray thee tell," came Dorothy's teasing response never looking up from her needlework.

            "Her highness is not at liberty to say," came Hilde's response.

            "I want to know. Is it a love letter?" came Catherine's nosey calls.

            "Hush now Catherine, we are ladies of the Queen. Not the common folk. We have traditions to uphold my dear," came the even tone of a blond with soft features and ice blue eyes.

            "The Lady Midii has a point Cat. We are ladies of the peerage and must act accordingly," came the soft voice of a woman that was dressed in a light blue kirtle and a green bodice with sleeves that matched it in the same green. 

            Relena looked at her and noticed that she wore a jeweled cross at her throat. It was not as large as the one her stepmother wore but it was familiar none the less.

            "Lucrezia is the one with the right idea. Return to your needlework while I talk to my cousin," Elizabeth said in a haughty voice and then turned to face Relena.

            There were gasps at the Queen's snobbish behavior from some of the older ladies and there were giggles from the younger ones. Relena just continued to look at the Queen with a puzzled look. 

            "Lean closer Relena as I tell you my scheme for the remainder of your stay in my services," Elizabeth said with a sly smile.

            Relena leaned closer and let the queen whisper in her ear the intrigues she had cooked up for her choice in bride for Relena's older brother who happened to be the Lady Lucrezia Noin. Relena's face was bright as she pulled back.

            "Do you think they would be a good match my dear cousin?" Elizabeth asked the younger Peacecraft.

            Relena nodded and then stood as she noticed that the door to the study had opened and Lady Noventa was now ushering in a pale looking Mariemaia into the room. She looked frightened and Relena gathered that her half sister would find it hard to sit down in a chair. Relena shook her head and then turned her attention back to the Queen.

            "If it pleases you you're Highness, I would like to return to my studies with my tutor, Richard Farsden if you do not mind," Relena said smoothing the front of the red and silver dress that Margaret had dressed her in today.

            Elizabeth's eyes lit up at the prospect of studies with a tutor. Relena suspected that her cousin missed the days when she could just sit at a table with a tutor and study all day long, about the great languages, and history. 

            "What are you learning today Cousin?" Elizabeth asked hoping that the girl would invite her to study with her.

            "Latin and German," Relena replied and then stood.

            The Lady Noventa just snuffed at the educated talk that Elizabeth and her stepdaughter were having. Mariemaia looked at the two engaged in a blissfully decedent conversation about the Latin language. 

            "I was going to help, my younger sister, Lady Mariemaia with her Latin as well, but our lady mother brought her in here with the others and I guess she is done for the day," Relena said with a sigh.

            "If it is studying that you want, study you shall. I will join you in attempts to practice my long forgotten German as well," Elizabeth with a huge smile plastered to her face, so not like the cool composure or fiery temper that most of the courts was used to.

            Relena beamed as well as she bowed to her queen and then looked to her stepmother. She was red faced and about to burst with Relena's impertinent behavior in front of the queen, but Elizabeth would not have it. Taking Relena's hand and then picking up Mariemaia's own, the three left the room to find out their studies. They were followed by one of the eldest waiting ladies the Earl of Wentworth's daughter, Mary Crossworth. 

            "For a woman of almost seven – and - twenty years of age, you would think she would settle down for once and marry herself rather then her ladies in waiting," Hilde said with a sigh and then picked up the book she had been reading aloud to the girls as they sewed and practiced their needlepoint.

            "I hear that even though she is mad at the Sir Robert Dudley, he still visits her bed chambers every night while she keeps court at Whitehall," Cathrine said as she pricked herself from her needle.

            "I heard it was Sir Heero Yuy, the Earl of Pembroke's eldest son, who has been vying for the Queen's hand," Dorothy said still not trying to pay attention to the other girls around her. 

            "But what have I head of a Sir Quatre Winner in thy bed as of lately?" Cathrine said with a gleam in her eye.

            Dorothy's head shot up and then glared at the red haired women who was putting down her point work and picking up a lute to strum. She was correct in assuming that, but there was no truth to any of the rumors about her and the Winner merchant. They were corresponding friends who had met at a court function and nothing else. She wondered if Cathrine was reading her private logs again. 

            "It is none of you concern," Dorothy said politely and then continued her work as the others began to gossip about the Winner Merchant heir who had just been knighted and given lands in Cheshire county.

~*~

            "So what kind of man interests you my dear cousin?" Elizabeth asked peering over the book she was reading as Relena continued to help her half sister with her German.

            "I have not noticed a man in quiet sometime, your highness. Men do not interest me in the ways most men interest ladies of my age and stature," Relena said addressing the queen in a polite but demanding manor.

            "Why is that," Elizabeth prodded further.

            Relena sat in a thoughtful silence for a mere matter of seconds as if to compose an answer to her majesty that would not upset her dear cousin and send her off to the chopping block as her other cousin Mary had to many who had disapproved of her rule.

            "I would rather study and spend my days trying to help reform the wrongs of the political system that governs the English. Eradicate many of the counselors and see that you rule justly and peacefully over the people," Relena said calmly.

            Elizabeth smiled at her cousin as if to say that her answer pleased her. Elizabeth nodded her head and then placed the book down in her lap.

            "A fine and noble answer my dear Relena. But you know as well as I do that you're place as the middle daughter of a Duke is to marry into one of the families of Royalty or to one of the peerage seeing as your brother is to inherit the title of Duke from you Lord father,"

            "I know your Highness," Relena replied looking down at her books.

            "But it does not stop thee from participating in the daily functions of government while we search for a husband," Elizabeth said with a small grin.

            Relena's eyes lit up as she heard the words escape from her cousin's mouth. There was a tiny gasp from Mary from her place in the corner of the room. Relena's smile became a frown as she heard the gasp.

            "But how, cousin?" Relena asked.

            "We will consort with each other on daily matters. You will help me make my counsel a working government and I will also allow you to help in Military matters since you seem insightful in to doing things the peaceful way," Elizabeth said with a smile.

            "Agreed," Relena said with a nod and returned to her work with Mariemaia.

~*~

            Shifting slightly in the saddle, Heero adjusted this reins again and then sighed. The journey to the Peacecraft estate in Scarborough had seemed to take ages rather then the short week and a half. He was not looking forward to this visit with the queen. She had refused to make him Lord Admiral of her fleet of ships. She had instead kept him away from battle stating that she had a much grander purpose in mind for him. 

            Just passing the stone walls of the farms that bordered the moor and the larger Peacecraft estates, Heero began to wonder if the house was much like it had been when he had come to visit in his childhood years. Were the marble halls on the first floor still kept polished with oil so that the floors shined?  Did the nursery still have the cradle and the tiny bed in it like it had in those days? Was the Peacecraft's middle daughter still a whiny, spoiled, brat as he remembered? He hoped not.

            What he remembered of the Duke's middle daughter was the fact that she was bossy and not like other young girls of her age. While most girls cared about preparing for the eventuality of marriage, Lady Relena Peacecraft was bossy and more interested in her studies then boys, fashion and court intrigue. He also suspected that she was as strong in the protestant faith as she was during the reformation. He shuddered as he remembered the little girl dressed in a dark blue dress and reading scriptures with her cousin the Lady Jane by the fire in the great room of the house. 

            He wondered if she had grown to look like her cousin Lady Jane. She must have been plain and homely for she had not married and she was now twenty – and – one. No man would have wanted her hand then. 

Her mother on the other hand was a beauty. It was rumored that she was a Princess from a tiny fife during the dark ages was now a Principality under French protection. From a caricature that fell into his own mother's possession after her death showed a very graceful, very willowy blond that had ice blue eyes he could tell were given to Milliardo. The Lady Relena favored her father's Tudor heritage from birth he had been told and the only gift her mother had given her was the muddy blond hair that rested atop her head. It was ugly and she was ugly. He would try and escape what ever plan the Queen had concocted for him, even if it meant that she would be signing his own death certificate.

TBC…


End file.
